Monday, April 30, 2018

I keep hearing from the right how the Mueller investigation is off the rails, going on a fishing expedition, how it's not doing what was initially intended and...it should be stopped.

Uh huh, right. Seriously?

Remember Ken Starr and Bill Clinton? Went after him for everything and anything, never got anywhere, kept shifting, pleasuring and satiating conservatives, horrifying progressives, until finally settling on getting Clinton to lie under oath about a sex act between consenting adults? Even if she was an intern.

HOW off the rails was that? Republicans didn't seem to have a problem with it THAT time. Why is now different? It's not. Unless...oh yeah, now it's they who are on the hotseat. And I've (so many of us in America) have been waiting decades for this turnabout. And it was only a matter of time considering the path the Republican party has been on. Each president they give us is lower and lower on the political evolutionary scale if not, as with Donald Trump, the cultural and actual evolutionary scale itself.

I don't care what Mueller gets Donald Trump on, just that he does it, does it soon, and removes him from office, and hopefully finds away to imprison him . Sooner than later. But why doesn't it matter?

Because of what the GOP has done to America overall and most specifically with this current nightmare example of someone who should never even have been allowed to be invited to the White House, and certainly not to reside there.

Get this POTUS on cheating at golf. I really don't care. Get him for lying to America about his weight and health, and take down with him, the White House doctor Ronny Jackson if he indeed lied to America about the president's health. Whatever works. Clinton wasn't even this much of an issue or a problem. There was so much conflation involved in the long enduring "Clinton scandals," the right wing's dream crimes, that it's ludicrous.

And yet, this time we actually do have a real and substantive problem in Mr. Trump and Republicans can and do actually even SEE it. Many are even quitting over it.

Whatever it takes to end this mess and punch the Republican party and supporters in the face, knocking a few teeth out along the way so that in going forward both they, we and others like Russia and Putin will constantly be reminded about all this so that they can and will continually remember that... we don't stand for this in our country!

We NOW do have a call to arms to "Make America Great Again". But it took putting someone, another questionable person, another Republican in the oval office. Someone who first had to tear our nation down both domestically and on the world stage for the need to Make It Great Again, because they stopped it from being great in the first place.

And frankly, I don't care if Mr. Trump's supporters ever get out of this trick and their one trick pony in Donald Trump, or not.

You see, you may call someone in to fix your job or career in order to raise your wages, to save your family... but if in the process that "fixer" rapes your wife and daughters and cages or kills your sons and grandparents and friends, destroying your family's reputation, their physical and mental health, but hey, out of all that now you have $10 more in your paycheck...just how badly again did you need that job fixed in the first place?

That's an excessive statement, but it makes the point. Like Michelle Wolf at the Correspondents Dinner, it's appropriate considering the disgusting man Donald Trump is and the moral ineptitude he's brought into the White House.

After all, this is the destructive Donald Trump administration, with a man who is a vulgarian who doesn't care WHO he harms, who he denigrates, who he offends.
I fully 100% supported Michelle on her Correspondents dinner delivery. Her joke on Kellyanne Conway and on Sarah Sanders were spot on.
Her jokes on the Trump as POTUS could have gone further, but she only had so much time.

There are indeed some things one shouldn't do to get out of a situation. You don't ask the Mafia (certainly not the Russian Mafia, or Putin, or a foreign country like Russia) to help your finances unless you want to ruin your reputation, your family life, or your life itself. Or as in this case, our country.

There are reasons for morality and ethical behavior and there are some lines, certainly for a POTUS, that shouldn't be crossed. The ends do not always justify the means. Something the Republican party seems to fail to even recognize anymore. In that, they have seemed more and more Russian day by day.

Rather than bringing in a criminal to fix your career, try getting another job. Broaden horizons. and remember that one's old reality isn't always sane in a new environment.

There is a Russian proverb appropriate here about the Trump Administration and Donald Trump himself:

Simplicity is worse than thievery (crime). That is... A fool can do more damage than an enemy or criminal. Yes, that is the concern with Donald Trump. Not to mention with Putin in the backdrough dabbling in our culture and government, all to disrupt and damage us, which Trump seemingly smiles and enjoys the chaos as he is so very fond of it since it opens doors for him to continue his questionable practices and potentially, criminal behaviors.

Bringing back coal miners? How stupid an idea was that? But then, the question really is was, how stupid are Trump supporters? Because it worked for him.

Sometimes you just have to alter your status quo and move on... potentially to an even better one. But it can hurt for a while in the transition. And America has been in transition for some years now. You may even have to learn something new. Oh, my God, educate yourself? Say it's not so! And therein lay the problem.

Rather than educate the America people through this period of transition, Republicans have chosen instead (and Putin) to play the fear cards in order to gain and retain as much power (and money) as possible. Regardless the destruction and misery it is causing nationwide.

We actually are in a transitional phase and perhaps we should consider making more money available to more or simply redistributing it, even paying those who do not have jobs available any longer.

THAT may be our new reality. What IF there simply are not enough jobs for everyone? Then what? Let them starve? Because that seems to be the conservative mantra.

Instead the Republican party denigrates those citizens who are suffering because of those destructive conscious Republican actions in the first place. Their allergy to anything that smacks of being a social program, so often necessary because of their actions to move money away from those whose money it was in the first place, who need it the most, are actually the "social programs" of the right and the entitlements they give instead to the rich and the corporate.

Something conservative types cannot fathom, is that their holy status quo of bigotry and ignorance should remain the same just so they feel comfortable and can continue complaining about how bad things are, when it is they who are the ones who are so dysfunctional in the first place and have made them bad, or made them seem bad, to begin with.

This, is not the America we were intended to be.

We just need to find our dignity once again, reorient what is real and what is propaganda, and put down this destructive Republican style, old Soviet and new Russian style, ways of thinking.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Interesting guy Reza Aslan and decent writer, both he and the reviewer are on the right track but still not quite getting the full picture, and delving into the specifics of later orientations merely obscure the reality in all this.

Still, should be an interesting read with some relevant signposts along the way.

However as I've written about over the years about where religions came from, they developed along with us. Right from the start. Or nearly so.

Interdisciplinary studies clearly shows evolution of both our humanoid forms and our humanoid minds, having developed originally with some obvious quirks we brought into our current homo sapien existence.

Ignorance, fear, dream and fugue states, having been a part of but (very importantly) not top of the food chain for so long, nuances of visual and auditory processes, originally with an inability to process information in certain ways, along with trying all along to be scientific and logical through ignorance and later through the occluded filters of religion, all before there was enough information to make at times even reasonable assumptions.

So began our journey.

Then evolving physically and intellectually as our brains evolved and so too our human experience explosading upon us as well as the world at large. All while bringing those very ancient beliefs along with us, and then finding a need to explain and fit them into current but ever changing paradigms, until we are now at a place where we can explain enough to see that we have grown stilllllmore complicated processing capabilities and abilities and yet, due to the form and nature of religion, we through history as we continued to cling on to and drag along those anachronistic vestiges of our pre intellectual existences with us.

Until and so...here we are. Still killing one another, still seeing ourselves as different from "the other" and feeling our ancient prejudices bubbling up from deep within, and still disrupting societies and governments over these very same fairy tales. myths, fables and ghost stories from our evolutionary childhood.

I suspect Aslan's book might be a good entry for those interested in seeking more clarity and... reality.

I have spoken of all this many times over the years and in more than one blog post. If you should like to take a look at some of thoser...

Monday, April 23, 2018

I've been saying that for decades now. Policing, is vastly different paradigm than military action, even when it appears the same. The fundamental principles behind policing are and need to be, vastly different.
What's so hard to understand about that for police?

We actually do not need a militarized police force. Not in equipment, certainly not in mentality and especially not in tactics in a civilian environment. Yes, it counter intuitively appears to be the same at times, though mostly by police on the front lines. That's understandable. But that is a misunderstanding both of need and of the design of policing itself.

Why are they there? Why this desire to militarize? To protect the police?

NO. They are there to protect the citizenry. WITHIN that paradigm, there is a need to protect police. However what we're seeing is the opposite far too often anymore. All because of a misalignment of reality between the process and purpose of To Serve and Protect, and that of the military. And a conservative desire to reuse old military equipment, so they give it to the police departments. Dress like a soldier, you begin to think like one.

It's the old psychosocial Stanford prison experiment, take a like group of students, separate them into guards and prisoners and within time, abuse starts to happen, an embattled mindset takes place and we have what we see now. Police and their enemies the public; citizens and their enemies, the police.

Even our citizens now want to militarize. What do you think the pro grun movement is all about? As we see police showing up militarized to public protests, so you see citizens arming up looking militarized too, simply out of protection.

David French, Columnist, (the conservative) National Review recently said:

"They're shown [police in training] video after video and told story after story about routine calls that immediately escalate into fatal encounters. This truth, however, sometimes leads to a deception, to a mindset that enhances the sense of risk way out of proportion to the actual threat."

That is, the truth, the statistics show, in reality, that most police \ citizen encounters are vastly non violent, and not fatal. But that is hard to tell some police who work in intense environments. They may indeed need special training. But they are the few, and they too need to understand that community policing is not military handling.

Even the military in urban environments in the Middle East have had to receive police training to deal with citizens. Because they are vastly different issues requiring an entirely different mindset. Asking soldiers to do this may be asking too much. But it is a new world.

Part of the police problem and the reason for their mindset is consistently abusive under funding. As we've seen with teachers in education. We abuse our citizen servants to the point of twisting their own realities around at times to near and utter dysfunction. Then we expect them to perform at a high degree and abuse them more when they do not.

And so we see illiterate and criminal activities from children and our police killing our kids. Even our kids killing our kids. But blaming them is missing the point of what is really going on. You cannot refuse to pay for services, then expect them to be functional services. It warps reality, mindsets, social structures, and an entire nation. That creeps over into our international relations, actions and support.

We are infecting the world with a bad way of thinking. and it all comes back to how we pay for our own needs and how we rationalize our own dysfunctions.

Jamelle Bouie (Afghanistan Vet), Columnist, Slate, recently:

"Trump is so vocal about what he likes and dislikes--so present in the national conversation--that his omissions are often more revealing than his comments. On the rare occasions when this president is silent, it is consistently when confronted with violence against nonwhites."

Donald Trump has consistently been massively wrong about so very many things, so many facts, so much of our reality to the point that it's literally killing us and ruining our lives. He is ruining the reputation of America, he is altering our path in future endeavors that will take decades to get back on track.

But only he can save us, he tells us. Yet it's not just him, it is his entire Republican party in their ignorance and refusal to admit what they know to be right and true. It has bled out in things like the Drug War on American citizens. On immigration issues. On social programs. On protections Americans have paid for and are now told they don't deserve.

All because of mismanagement, poor political thinking and actions and believing in ignorant leaders who have sold us down the road for their own profit and that of their dysfunctional beliefs, party and supporters.

We can start to fix all of this, in small steps. Like policing America properly. Funding police, teachers, education overall, health and mental health care, properly. To see all Americans can have health care, education and that their country loves them and no longer sees them as an old Testament problem and as a cancer to be cut out, but as citizens who are part and parcel of this nation and are our best and only concern.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

In 1995 I wrote an article for a computer rag, a newspaper format computer "magazine". These had sprung up all over the country. Back then in the back of them they would have a list of all the local BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) you could dial up with your phone and modem and visit, and what their orientation was..

I sent this article to several and The I/O Port out of Denver, Colorado bit, publishing my article in one of their 1995 issues. There was a lot of concern back then by companies and management about Internet use by employees. A lot of unreasonable fear and loathing, really. But I'll let the article speak for itself.

Here it is in all its glory. In hindsight, it now has a rather humorous historical significance for us to enjoy. It also gives us today, especially those of us too young to have been alive or active online back then, to catch a glimpse of what it was like in those early, perhaps or perhaps not...halcyon days through the birth pains of... The Internet.

Cyberspace

by [and under an alias to] JZ Murdock

jzmurdock@cyberspace.com

Contract
Technical Writer/Systems Consultant
WWW Home Page:

http//www.cyberspace.com:80/~jzmurdock/

Call it what you will: the
“Internet” (with parental thanks to Mil-Net
and universities around the world), the “I-Way”
(thanks, Time
magazine), the “Information
Superhighway”, “Information
Supermarket”; whatever you call it, “Cyberspace”
(thank you William Gibson) is still the only way to experience
the “Global Village”
(finally, thank you, Marshall McLuhan).

Al Gore may not be far off when he
claimed that the telecommunications industry will be the foremost
export and the world's No. 1 business by the year 2000.
Vice-President Gore's perception in Infrastructure for the Global
Village (Scientific American,
Sept. 1991), was:

"When millions of individuals
process information simultaneously, the aggregate result is
incredibly accurate and efficient decisions."

Imagine, the ability of millions of
users to connect to the same 'Inter'-net (work) at the same time and
actually work together. Need I say more? The Internet, Cyberspace, is
here to stay. So now that it is here, what do we do with it?

As a Systems Consultant, companies have
asked my opinion on giving their employees access to the Internet in
the workplace. It would seem that they have heard rumors of how this
access can be abused. They are therefore somewhat reticent to supply
this access. My advice? If it is valuable to the company, give it to
your employees. At least give it to the employees you know and trust
well enough, who are the self-starters, the dedicated individuals,
the trustworthy ones.

Still, if this does worry you, perhaps
you should also see to it that these employees have Internet access
from home. In my experience, it has been the individuals newest to
the Internet (particularly the World Wide Web, or WWW), who are the
most frequent abusers of corporate Cyberspace privileges. The
[cyberpace] old hands, chiefly the ones linked up from home,
tend to do any playing from there. Where it is after all much
safer and the freedom of action, more pervasive.

Since anyone can read in any variety of
traditional paper magazines, or the newer online electronic 'zines',
all the things possible in Cyberspace, allow me to just cruise
through exactly what it is that I do within it.

I work as a Contract Technical
Communicator (AKA, a Tech Writer) for Telecommunications companies,
as well as others. Essentially, a loaded pen (or keyboard), for hire.
I constantly make use of the Internet. Both the open global one, that
most people know of and hear about, and the closed,
internal/corporate ones. Most of these corporate internets
[lower case “i”], are maintained behind secure
'firewalls,' unavailable to the general public.

I use these networks both for
information and product gathering (graphic files, utilities, etc.),
and of course, sightseeing. Either way I am what you could call a
CyberSurfer, as I do “surf” the Internet [capital “I”].
Both of which are terms now familiar to the computing public.

This dual behavior of exploration and
research and product gathering are apparently a bane to corporations
as it simultaneously serves both corporation and employee.
That is, while one searches the Internet—on authorized Company
Time, one tends also to find things interesting on personal level.

Uh, oh: "Danger! Will Robinson!"
scream the corporate time watchers.

The personally interesting Internet
sites I find while at work are the sites that I simply make note of.
I save interesting web page locations (URLs) either to the Hotlist
in Mosaic, the Bookmark in Netscape, or I simply
jot it down, typically on (oh, no!) Post It notes for future
reference, though only for home.

After all, I AM being paid far too much
to be misusing company time. Besides, it's just not worth getting
caught when I can do far more and get far more in-depth into,
whatever I am currently pursuing, while relaxed at home.

Conversely and interestingly (and
ironically) enough, while searching Cyberpace on my personal time I
even more frequently run across various web sites, web pages, other
resources and individuals that could be in valuable for WHILE I AM AT
WORK!

The point there is that while one
cannot make use of one's time at work for personal use, one does end
up supplementing work with whatever is learned at home. A benefit I
might add, that is at no extra cost to my employers. I have spent
many hours at home, searching the Internet for work related
information, merely out of habit, before I even realized what I was
doing.

Needless to say, I don't bother trying
to extract pay for this from my employers. However, don't lose heart.
This habit CAN make your work (and you) look better in the end.
Whatever you learn on the Internet, whatever resources you do happen
to uncover, will inevitably turn out to be valuable to you at some
point in the future.

You may now very well be asking, "Okay
friend, what ARE some of these web sites, web pages, individuals and
other resources that could be so invaluable?" Okay, I'm game. So
here are a few of my favorites, both for work and play (and perhaps a
little in between). I'll let you make up your mind as to which would
be useful for which since, as I have already pointed out, the
definitive line between is light gray, if not invisible:

Digital Planet –
http://www.dlgiplanet.com:80/DP/ [a company hired by film companies
and others to display their products, great fun and some film clips
and contests]

Visioneering Research
Laboratory, Inc. http://www.vrl.com/ [check it out and you'll
see the light]

The Smithsonian Institution
HomePage – http://www.si.sgi,com/sglstart.htm [Everyone has to
have been here at least once. Much like the Louvre in Paris,
you at least have to be able to say you've been there]

The Emerald Web - http://
www.cyberspace.con/bobk/ [Interesting stuff in and around Seattle,
and interesting Internet stuff']

Charles Deemer's Home Page
- http:// www.teleport.com/-cdeemer/ [valuable writer's resource,
wherein you can find links to the Internet Directory of Published
Writers; the ScreenWriter's Resource Page and others]

The Equitation Station
http://www,cyberspace.com-jzmurdock/cairn.htm [Horse related links,
esp. for those interest­ed in Arabian Show horses, as well as
any kind of horsemanship]

The
Central Intelligence Agency http://www.odci.gov/ ['nuff
said, and some handy world facts]

And finally, AWHP, my
personal home page - http://www,cyberspace.com/
-jzmurdock/maingrph,html [With a rather eclectic collection of
information and links ranging from movie magic, to weird
relationships of writing such as fiction and hypertext novels, and
links to an engine that serves up creative ways of complaining about
someone].

All of this cruisin' and abusin' makes
my work and my writing better in two ways.

Primarily, the Internet gives me access
to a huge variety of discourse and to experts from whatever
field I may require information. Typically, this is by way of the
Usenet Newsgroups, or World Wide Web pages. One page can lead to
another and you may find your answers (and yourself) at times in the
of strangest of places.

There are many people who will be quite
happy to be your personal expert-on-line. This is especially
true on the newsgroups; web pages seem to be setup to some degree, to
save the individual time from scouring the Internet themselves. Lets
face it, it IS quite flattering to be someone's expert;
especially, when it is as anonymous and responsibility free as the
Internet can be. [both a good thing and as we eventually saw, a bad,
if not very bad thing]

But please, all you future
Cyber-Researchers, do consider validating any information you get off
the Internet from at least one or (even better) two other sources
just to be sure. This does not however make your initial expert
any less valuable. Sometimes your expert will steer you into
the right direction to begin with. And that in itself can be
invaluable.

As an example, I was in an artists'
newsgroup back in 1990. Someone asked a question about the
composition of a specific artist's oil paint. I believe it was umbra
tempura, and they mentioned a specific brand. The most interesting
response was from a gentleman working at NASA. He wrote in-depth
about its composition, down to the molecular level.

He also included a short discourse on
the history of tempuras, their usage by the masters and spoke of the
various ingredients used in these paints (as artists used to make
their own oil paints by hand). He went onto explain the progress of
tempura paints through history, including the typical usage of ground
eggshells. In closing, this expert
from NASA went on to refer to the practice by another master, of
grinding down precious gems (as was done in the varnishes of
Stradivarius).

The second thing the Internet allows me
to do, is to enrich my view on life. One can learn and experience
vast amounts of things (some you may want to know about, some maybe
you won't), by simply hopping around the Internet universe (and who
will be the first to suddenly realize that they have left the
Internet and are now on some alien [extraterrestrial's] web surfer's
home page?).

This hopping around was something I
used to do in the mid and late 1980's at the Internet's original text
based level. It is now something that I do using my preferred web
browser, which happens to be Netscape's 32 bit version
browser. Speaking of which, I am running a Pentium 60 machine with 16
megabytes of memory and a 32 bit OS,which is now my favored Microsoft
Windows95 (due out to the public this mid to late-August).

On this note, I would suggest as fast a
machine as possible, with as much memory as you can get and plenty of
available disk space for optimal performance.

So where does this all lead one? Well,
all of this eventually leads one to develop and maintain a web page
of one's own. After all, once others have shared of their knowledge,
isn't it only fair that in some small way, this effort is repaid?
Besides, part of Cyberspace and the whole Global Village concept is
sharing information, giving some of your time to others and thus
finding yourself truly 'Networking': functionally, literally, and
metaphorically.

Don't worry though. You simply begin
sharing your knowledge without even realizing it Mostly because it it
pleasurable. Besides, having a web page tends to keep you from
spending so much time 'surfing,' not to mention and most importantly,
because people will now begin coming to you.

Understand that this of course means
you must learn HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language), the embedded
formatting code that generates Web Pages, at least to some minor
degree. Or have a friend that does, anyway. Once again, don't worry.
Web page writing in HTML comes pretty easily. Just be prepared. Web
pages allow you to put on-line: your views, your hobbies and
interests, pictures of your favorite plant, plane or person, a
resume, even a philosophy.

Web pages allow you to meet others of
similar viewpoints, as well as the dissimilar ones. These
thorns-in-your-side types, actually help you to sharpen your original
views to crystal clarity. And all without leaving your own home web
page. It is a way to enrich your views, your beliefs, your
personality, and possibly your career—with little or no effort at
all. And finally, it can just be fun.

Cyberspace is not just a conglomeration
of points-in-space, rather it is the sum total of a vast melange of
the human experiences that are available on-line; willing and waiting
for anyone to experience. Something that is nearly a required
experience for the informed global citizen in today's electronic
world.

So, is the Internet something so new
and unique that it should be spoken of in hushed tones of awe? Is it
something we should be wary of, perhaps attempt to avoid, to protect
ourselves from, possibly at all costs? Is it as some claim, total
anarchy and therefore dangerous to our society? Is the Internet in
its infancy still and therefore something to be avoided until it has
“grown up'? Is it an infant holding an informational nuclear
weapon? Is there some kind, any kind of a plan, a rhyme, or a reason
to it? Can we trust it?

Sherman Woo, is a Researcher and
Lecturer at U S West Communication's Technologies Division and a main
inspiration of their own Global Village project. He is also a fellow
ex team member from a now disbanded, ten person team of the thirteen
state wide US West Technologies project I worked on. Recently, he
published an article in a telecommunications trade journal which I
was happy peripherally to assist him on.

Speaking in this article about the
Internet, the Information Superhighway, and the Global Village, Mr.
Woo said:

"Skeptics argue that there is no
evidence of public demand and that there are very few, if any,
information products to speak of, and that there isn't a real plan.
But did you really expect it to be different, here—on the
frontier?"

Monday, April 16, 2018

I wanted to know more about the concept of military parades before #realDonadlTrump got involved and found an article from Australia from 2015.

At the rate Donald Trump as president is losing ground in his self righteousness, I'm not sure how much this will remain relevant or for how long. Still it's good to know, to be aware.

Why DON'T we have dictator style military parades like in China, North Korea, Russia, etc.?

Maybe that question answers itself. We don't want to be perceived as tyrants, dictators, bullies. Donald Trump does. And so, who wants a military parade in America now? Well, DT obviously.

Military parades display for the world to see, not just one's citizen's, our weapons in a way that is impressive and exploits considerations of dominance and power.

America...doesn't need to do that. It diminishes our dominance and power in displaying it. In part why Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and CARRY (not display) a big stick." Speak with authority, while knowing you have in your arsenal the power to back it up. Minor dictators show off (including China) because they feel they need to, or to inspire their citizens because they need that.

"Despite the popular image of Roosevelt as a swashbuckling uber-American, his words have, over time, been cast and recast incorrectly as an endorsement of bellicosity. In fact, the president who stormed Kettle Hill as a younger man generally preferred letting the military's mere existence speak for itself. Historian Edmund Morris writes that the night Roosevelt first gave his big-stick speech, the then-vice president's words were rather misconstrued:

"This generated such loud applause as to suggest the audience took his 'adage' as aggressive, rather than cautionary. Actually, Roosevelt was trying to say that soft-spoken (even secret) diplomacy should be the priority of a civilization, as long as hardness -- of moral resolve, of military might -- lay back of it."

That, pretty much says it all.

Donald Trump in being Trump, and in wanting a military parade, is exhibiting exactly what and who he is and using America to back up simply being a petty bully. Such as he is. And an immature actor. One with plenty of signs of being a sociopath, such as many CEOs are reported to be. Some with criminal tendencies, such as Mr. Trump certainly appears to be.

Either way, THAT is not America. Yet that sadly is some people's perception of us. Our "weight" and power and money alone, are our bully tools. To do anything bully-like is to be redundant, petty, and much less than we are, and should be.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Donald Trump has said repeatedly that he doesn't like telegraphing his actions as president to other countries, especially our enemies. Before I get started, this is NOT an attempt to libel the POTUS. It's simply applying known psychological dynamics.

In full disclosure and to qualify my opinion, I have a university degree in psychology which gives me at least reasonable authority to make these observations which as well, trained me as a researcher. Both of which lends credence to my opinion in this subject. These are also well observed and well documented behaviors including actual videos of exhibited behaviors, as well as ongoing and related lawsuits.

Also, before I get into the who sexuality thing, there is something else we have to address. Donald Trump's lying.

Ever notice when #realDonaldTrump is being interviewed or is speaking and you know he's lying, or must be? This isn't in this article, but what is mentions fidgeting behaviors, grooming. Facial movements give one away.

Another clue: what the authors call “grooming gestures,” like brushing hair or adjusting a tie or shirt cuffs, which can signal anxiety.

Here's the thing. I've noticed how odd it is that Trump crosses his arms, or hugs himself, when sitting. I didn't think anything of it for a long time until today.

Why would he do this? The typical thing is we are protecting ourselves or we feel threatened or defensive. Yes, I thought of that. Yes sometimes that may be with Trump.

But if you are hugging yourself or your arms are purposefully locked around you, how can you fidget and exhibit "lying behaviors"? Trump hangs onto himself as if he's trying to not move his arms, hands or fingers.

My point?

When Trump crosses his arms or hugs himself, he's doing specific behaviors to counter being read as a liar. It's also clear he is an inveterate liar.

Even if I dearly loved this president, because I believe in decency, reality and honesty, I'd still be pointing this out.

Several reasons for that. First the obvious one that he wants us to believe. "Don't signal beforehand a punch you're going to throw." I've fought in tournaments and that is true, to a point. I did telegraph and it's done me well. But I'd telegraph what I'm NOT going to do. Then I would do something else, and follow up with one more actions than the opponent was prepared to deal with.

But these were fights that ended, at the end. Politics are forever ending one issue and by whatever happens, setting up the next issue in a seemingly unending path to no one ever really knows what. Because it is so complex.

As in playing chess (no I don't think Trump uses this as metaphor, he's lucky to know how to play checkers, let alone the complexity of international politics comparable to the Chinese game of "Go").

When I was fighting, I could watch my opponent in a match use their own practiced set, run out of them, have to think up the next move or two, all while you continue on with one more move then they have usually practiced. You could see in their eyes, their body language, when they exhausted their moves and had to not rely on practiced movements, but then in the moment be distracted to figure out what next move to go into.

I mention this about the rascally simpleton of a POTUS we now have regarding politics, but mostly about his sexuality.

Whenever he says to a woman, "You remind me of my daughter," WHY do you think he says that? Is he just thinking out loud (well that's disturbing enough, right?). Is it merely a compliment as he'd like her to think, because he thinks highly of his daughter?

From what we've seen of him, most likely that's not it at all.

It's code word.

He won't come out and ask for what he wants. He doesn't like telegraphing and exposing himself to recrimination or abuse, or increasing the intel of another to later be used against him. Right? Sort of.

Some years ago I was in a cyber security briefing. Part of it was about covert activities on websites.

There were two mentioned, used as examples of what is going on. One regardied pedophiles on a website using a database back then (database websites were fairly new) and people who were seeking out other pedophiles. The other site was about beastiality on a normal dating site that was being used covertly to find others into those same behaviors. All while most on the site had no clue what was going on behind the scenes.

If you were on that fairly well known dating site, you may have been contacted by one of those people. But in not responding properly to their code worded comments, they moved on to the next person.

Both subcultures knew what site to go to in order to find like others. And they knew how to speak online in such a way so as to let other like minds know who they were and that they could speak openly, hook up and well, whatever.

They used code words that seemed innocuous, innocent. But if you replied properly, a few more tests and then you knew who you both were. You telegraphed, but did it covertly, out in the open.

Trump has been doing the same thing. Beware a man who has no shame. One who exhibits sociopathic behaviors. Who abuses his positions of power. Who is shamelessly a bully. Who strives with all his heart to be loved by anyone in the room with him and then turns around later and goes back on his word. These are all typical behaviors of a narcissistic sociopath and of Donald Trump.

These are not even "open secrets". They are openly known, seen, observed from a distance and repeated again and again.

Searching for an Ivanka look alike to have sex with who will play, most likely, his daddy / daughter fetish gume. With the woman playing the part obviously, of Ivanka. I'm assuming Stormy didn't respond properly to the Ivanka comments and Trump dropped it. Probably a bit miffed. Same with that other woman who said he had said the same things to her.

It's a pattern. Both women may have hidden disgust at the potential for what he was actually saying. That is, asking. They may have been disgusted. Some women ignore that, as they too had experienced that with their own fathers. But put it aside, merely hoping he dropped it. And if he did, well, we know how things progressed. Standard sex for Donald, not his preferred and more intense fetish sex.

He's searching. It's predatory behavior. Let that sink in. Our President, is a sexual predator. He's admitted it openly. The Access Hollywood recording. It was not just "locker room" talk. I've been in a lot of locker rooms because of martial arts and gyms and any guy that talks that way, is seen as a small man indeed. Any man who can't get a woman to want to be grabbed or more likely caressed, isn't worth his sexual weight in salt. To just do it without any form of permission, is if not criminal (which it is) is just unmanly. It's abuse.

Total nonsense? Because you know? It all actually fits together quite well. So for those "Christian" supporters of Trump, beware who you support. On that matter, here's a very well done video explaining why at least Christian evangelicals are still supporting someone like Donald Trump.

To be as humane as I can about this, Trump... needs help. Professional psychological help. I suspect now or sooner, and so do we.

The CIA has been doing profiling of foreign leaders and agents for far longer than the FBI profiling criminals. Which in some cases is pretty much the same thing (e.g., Putin).

I have to wonder if they don't already know all this (and more) about Mr. Trump from when he first went to Russia or knew he was going even before Trump ever had a clue? Once an America steps onto foreign soil, especially a country like Russia, China, or North Korea, they put themselves in a position to fall into a wrap up of intelligence about the foreign entities and agents.

I would find it very surprising, if there aren't old withered and rather detailed files on Mr. Trump at the CIA, the NSA, DIA, and other No Such Agencies. You see, it's what they do. For us. To protect us. From people like Putin, Kim Jong Un, and an American businessman with delusions of colluding with anyone who will help him enhance his wealth, power, and influence.

It's what we pay them to do. it's what we want them to do. Considering Mr. Trump is not president, it can't be that much of a problem either. Otherwise, if there really was a "deep state" as some fools contend, he'd never have made it pas the nomination stage.

Someone, knows...something.

The first of the two elements indicated in the attached article, the first being a more normal psychological dynamic (albeit in an individual with fragile self-esteem that is potentially the narcissist that Mr. Trump undeniably is). The second element being his generally understood abnormal sexual deviancy.

The potential for normalcy in the first element or at least half of it, is neutralized in his mentioning how he sees a similarity in his potential bed partner, to that of his daughter (in putting "feelers" out for a father/daughter fetish which we know may have been denied at least twice in the two I've heard mention it). So rather than merely one of those two indicated elements being abnormal, we now actually have 1.5 of the two elements being considered abnormal.

The guy is definitely off, mentally, sexually and paternally.

If she grew up in that kind of a sexualized environment, which is seems she had, it could explain why, (IF) she actually doesn't see it herself. But as so many women know, in being a woman you learn to ignore what you simply cannot do anything about. Though one does wonder the private talks her and Jared may have had over this. That is, unless she throws a fit, refusing to allow that discussion. Or if he would notice, or even wish to ever bring it up. Any of which one could easily assume to be the case.

Ivanka and Donald Trump

Mr. Trump's pride in how hot he thinks his daughter is, how erotically symbolic he sees her, simply exceeds his shame. Which he is on empty about, just about all the time anyway in his publically exhibiting no embarrassment whatsoever regarding his sexual attraction to her. And her response to it when she is there when he says it, indicates a very long term behavior of acceptance and ignoring it.

Actually it's plausible that his sharing that information and even people's discomfort over it, is also sexually stimulating for him. Perhaps not in an outward arousal being exhibited, but in his brain chemistry.

In fact, I think that may be quite reasonable. What keeps getting me about this guy is that he seems to be using us all for some kind of stimulative affect, out in the open, for us all to see, and no one seems to get it.

It feels, "sociopathetic" if not simply, sociopathic.

Let's define sociopathetic as combining the non-elite skills of basic social interactions with the elite skills of high incompetence to the effect of revealing one's true intentions. Just how "Donald Trump" does that sound to you? If the shoe fits....

Also in the way of the typical dynamic of a conman, Mr. Trump abuses people's mores and decency masking or neutralizing their reactions to his hidden in plain site sexuality, or even allowing us to admit it to ourselves. Thus doubling down, as he does love to do, on his abuse of us in his favorite psychosexual and psychosocial patterns.

Do consider this however. If your daughter were in a Miss America pageant, how would you feel about Donald Trump walking into the dressing room where your daughter is naked and changing, as he has done repeatedly? Of if he walked up to her and as he has said, "Grabbed her by the P*ssy."

And she felt she could say nothing to anyone ever because she could get cut from the pageant she had worked so hard for so long to get to the top and the end of that long, painful and sometimes humiliating road, all because the owner of the pageant feels he is entitled to sexually about Your Daughter. Still feel like he's a great guy to support, especially as POTUS? Or would you be looking for ways now around his Secret Service detail to get your hands around his fat old throat?

In his action of incorrectly discussing alone with then FBI Director James Comey March of 2017, he asked for the "cloud" of the Russia investigation to be lifted because it made doing his job difficult. He asked for the "cloud" to be lifted.

Nearly the same things he was doing with woman in mentioning how much they reminded him of his daughter. It is a behavior he repeats over and over. Telegraphing his desires like a Mafia boss, expecting it to happen, but when it doesn't he drops it. Being president ins't being a Mafia boss. He knows that and from the firings we've seen, he hates being denied. Is there any better evidence of that? I have to wonder just how many times in his professional (and probably personal) life he did not drop it, but pressed his advanted to other's disadvantages.

Once again the GOP, the political party who has subjected us to an inordinate number of sexual deviants, philanderers, hypocritical homosexual anti-homosexuals (just be gay dude, it's 2018! and it's okay), criminals and dehumanizing, bigots, racists and well, outright hypocrites.

We deserve better. But the only way to get there is to openly deal with what is right there before us. And to demand of a major political party like the GOP, that this is no longer acceptable.

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

First off, this isn't about the petition itself. But go, sign it. Tell your friends, get them to sigh this.
So if its not about the petition, why sign it? Because, it's about making noise. Calling Trump to account for his juvenile, unpresidential, and damaging actions.

If we got enough people to sign this petition, it would get into the news and that alone could affect some change. Sometimes the smallest of things, affect the biggest of changes. Trump is the type where you have to think outside the box he has boxed us into with our own good nature and decency.

That is how a conman works. We need to outplay him at his own, immature games.

The request was for the Government to account for all the mistakes that President Donald Trump makes and to monthly publicly account for that in numbers.

America cannot have a POTUS who makes that many mistakes and many are costly real people real money. He is costly America real money.

So Go. Sign the petition if you feel so inclined and at least you will know you asked something directly of the White House and Congress to do SOMETHING to curtail Donald Trump's ridiculous and ongoing statements.

It is NOT just embarrassing, it is hurting people. It is hurting us all. He needs to learn to keep his mouth shut until he is 100% sure of what he is saying.

THAT, is being presidential.

GAO to publicly account for how much pres. trump's incorrect tweets and comments cost the government each month.

Pres. Trump simply and obviously makes too many comments that are easily verified to be incorrect. We need to counter that with a reasonable and monthly GAO accounting of what it costs OUR country. This will give Congress a foundation and thereby recourse from which to curb and\or counter Mr. Trump's voluminously misspoken and disinformed statements and diatribes.#POTUS #realDonaldTrump #GOP #Democrat #Congress #VPOTUS

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

This is a reprise of my Emilie Autumn 2011 post which unexpectedly turned into my highest rated post ever.

There is a reason why I'm posting this today, one that may prove or disprove something and has nothing to do with Emilie. Something you benefit from here though.

Let me say this first. If you're viewing this out of some lecherous carnal interest, I get that. So does Emilie. But this is about objectifying with consent, for fun, with a foundation not in mindless sexuality but in very mindful empowered sexuality. Her sapiosexual side is one third of who she is, along with her performance on stage and in her music, and her overall concept of being human. Leer at her at your own risk. And have a sense of humor.

"Dearest Plague Rats, I am writing like mad at present, but will be back soon to let you know of secret and magical happenings..."

And now a blast from the past from January 2011:

Like Kate Bush gone insane, this lovely world class violinist and singer (writer, composer, choreographer, etc. extraordinaire), bring ordered, sexy, chaos to her stage shows. This describes Emilie Autumn'sstage show (along with her merry, sexy band of "Bloody Crumpets"), pretty well, I think. Indeed. When on stage, she essentially invites you into her home, or her "asylum". Chosen by Interview Magazine as one of their “14 Artists to Watch.”

With a very sexy stage presence, and a message of "we are all different and its okay", much like Lady Gaga with her little monsters and all about how being different is okay, Emilie Autumn is a very articulate, well read and, apparently, well educated, woman. Don't get me wrong, she's no Lady Gaga.

That is to say, she's far more accessible, she's quite attractive, hot really, and plays a mean fiddle. She calls her type of music, VictorianIndustrial or violindustrial. I've always had a penchant for various types of industrial music. Asked about being Goth, she said that she has banned black from the stage, so she's not sure how people think she's Goth. However, Emilie has also been in Gothic Beauty magazine. And she's a beauty all right.

Oh, and she has a very loyal fan base.

From Wikipedia:
"Emilie Autumn (born in Malibu, California, on September 22, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and violinist who is best known for her wide range of musical styles and her use of theatrics.[1] She began learning the violin at the age of four and left regular school five years later with the goal of becoming a world-class violinist; she practiced nine hours a day and read a wide range of literature. Progressing to writing her own music and poetry, she went to the Colburn School of Performing Arts, and then Indiana University's Music Conservatory, which she left over issues regarding the relationship between classical music and the appearance of the performer. Through her own independent label Traitor Records, Autumn debuted with her classical album On a Day: Music for Violin & Continuo in 1997, followed by 2002's supernaturally themed album Enchant."

"After appearing in singer Courtney Love's backing band on her America's Sweetheart
tour and returning to the United States, Autumn attempted suicide after
having an abortion and was kept on suicide watch in a Los Angeles mental hospital.
After being released, she had her cell block number tattooed on her arm
as a way of remembering what had happened to her. She released the 2006
album Opheliac with the German label Trisol Music Group. In 2007, she released Laced/Unlaced; the re-release of On a Day... appeared as Laced with songs on the electric violin as Unlaced. She later left Trisol to join New York-based The End Records in 2009 and release Opheliac
in the United States, where previously it had only been available as an
import. Currently she is working on an upcoming album entitled Fight Like a Girl."

First of all, Emilie herself in 2009 called for her "muffins" or "Asylum Rats, (fans), and her "Asylum Army" (hardcore fans), a mission to, as she put it, "Fuck up" her wikipedia page, because its the "only way to fight wrong information". Hmmm...oh well.

Here she is being quite normal on HGTV Crafters TV Show. She is showing you how to make great fairy wings. But that's not all, then she shows you how to make great sushi (one of my favorite things). One has to wonder if any of the viewers watching this show, have any clue as to what her day (okay, night) job is.

Like an erotic Alice from Wonderland, she is an advocate for hanging in there when things seem impossible, and for better understanding of difficult mental states as well as the Mental Health culture around the world, getting their act together. She is a self proclaimed asexual, indicating a lack of sexual attraction, and being on bipolar medications, its understandable and they can leave one with a flat affect in many areas of ones personality.

Her and her female troup's (called Asylum Girls) bisexual antics on stage are a bit over the top, but its all in rather light fun and mostly for release from social pressures from what I can tell. A release in the way of relaxing the stress that culture puts on some. And that is understandable, when you consider her history.

She has had her spell of mental hospitals and events related to an unbalanced mental state, when she was younger. She has taken those experiences and presented them to her audience through her art and music, in a way saying, 'yes, this kind of thing exists, I've been there, but I'm still here; there is hope'. What this leads to is an understanding by her fans of what those parts of real life, of some of their realities, in areas that are seldom understood or even talked about.

Emilie takes her attractiveness, presented in a warped Victorian way to offer up her music in a way that is well played, in a humorous and erotic presentation; but with a light touch, evoking more brash and defiant attitudes allowing her audience to "let their hair down", to be a bit wild, while still requiring a sense of decorum and good behavior. When audience members get to the point of interrupting her show, she pulls them back and shuts them down in a way that is both entertaining and productive.

In listening to her interview, included below, you come to understand she is an advocate for good mental health, but more so, for good help, from loved ones of those going through mental and suicidal issues, and the professional mental health community, world wide. It seems her experiences were quite negative in how people related to her, how she received anger and even abuse from those she least expected to receive it from.

As she says, you'd expect to see a completely different behavior from those closest to people having problems like this. She also said that much of what she is saying is from Victorian times, and how hopeless things were for certainly, some women, which is reflected in songs of hers such as Marry Me and Thank God I'm Pretty.

She has written a book about it. She has albums of music exemplifying it. Her shows portray the results of her experiences, but in a way that is entertaining and productive to her fan base who love hear dearly, and know all her songs and the lyrics to the point that fans in other non English speaking countries, may know no English, but know all the English lyrics to her songs.

Bottom line, if your teen daughter has been having issues and she wants to go to one of Emilie's shows, I would say let her, you have far more serious issues to worry about and this can only give her a positive outlet for something you may be finding difficult to handle yourself.

As Emilie herself has pointed out, this isn't only about young girls, anyone can have issues where life is simply too much to handle. Sometimes, you only need to give yourself the license, to lighten up, change your life, make things workable for you and it may not always be in a way that the authority in your life may agree with. But you have to survive. Isn't that what is paramount, after all?

Aside from the title of some of her songs like The Art of Suicide, her message is quite different than you might think and really is Life Affirming and oriented to living, to not killing oneself when times seem so impossible.

For my money, I find her quite intriguing and an interesting light in a dark cave that most of us have not had touch with, until it was too late.I speak from experience, to say that when you are in the situation with a child who is having problems, who is contemplating suicide, you have moved from the position of pitcher to catcher. If you continue to try to throw the ball in the direction you wish things to go, you will most likely, like the rest of us have experienced, lose.

Rather than try to mold the person at that point, you need to find out who they are, what they need, and give them the most positive environment possible to achieve who they need to grow into being. Because, for the most part, the symptom is the result of growing up one way, and trying to fit into an environment that is insane for them. The beginning of fixing the situation, has to do with, letting them become sane.

From what I've seen, frequently, this has been an issue in the part of the parents, in one way or another. Its not to lay blame, but to say that sometimes, there is just no way to understand, how things have changed and how to make them better. The one thing that is absolutely true, is that continuing to do things in the way they have been done up to that point, is indeed insane, only, on the part of the parent then.

If you find Emilie's sexuality, banter, playfulness to be challenging, it could be that these are the least of your concerns at this point. To Emilie, its only a way to allow herself and her fans to simply relax, be who you need to be, have fun with it, make fun of it. Step outside of things, outside of your world, and say, "See? Life, can be pretty great, pretty easy, pretty fun."

Emilie's web site says, "Welcome to the Asylum". Its just an admission really, of where it can feel things are, and sometimes, that is the beginning of finding your way out of the Asylum. She has her book available on there for $75 with incredible artwork, although, it seems its sold out for now; which perhaps, says something in itself.

This, is an incredible woman. She has for instance, taken a very dark period in her life and literally turned it into a stage show that is life affirming, energizing for her fans, and truly has a very high quality of sound and creativity.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Why are the Russians acting as they are? Isn't it odd how they act the victim about the recent murder attempt in the UK, how they act so "guilty" as many have observed? Is it a coincidence that Pres. Donald Trump acts the victim and guilty himself? What an odd coincidence.

Why are they doing so well, getting away with so much? I guess that refers not just to the Russians, and in the Russians let's face it, this refers to once again their newly "elected" leader, Vladimir Putin. "Vlad", what an appropriate name for Putin. It harkens back to another damaging leader from hundreds of years ago in that region of the world.

If you've read traditional Russian literature, it tells you something. As a people, Russians are traditionally a complicated people. Complex. Overly so sometimes. But it's certainly worked to their advantage in international relations. And covert operations.

We here in the west, well not so much. We're not stupid, to be sure. But neither are they. Not, by a long shot. They understand better than anyone to and how to play, the long game. At times, the very, very long game. I had learned myself when I was young and fighting tournaments in martial arts, if I played the long game, I won fights more easily. Everyone practiced "techniques". What we called, "combinations" of basic moves. You took basic moves, put them together and you had a combination, then involving in that a strategy, and you had a technique. Now some refer to a movement, a strike of some sort as a technique, too.

As a student of marital arts we learned the basics, offensive moves (and of course, defensive but they stopped the other side from scoring on you, not gaining you points (or tempo in damaging them) but made your points more valuable if you stopped them from scoring, or damaging you). A punch, a kick, whatever single movement that could score a point or damage an opponent.

What I discovered as a kid, even in grade school (and I never heard anyone else talk of it and if I mentioned it to a friend they were surprised and intrigued, which seemed unbelievable to me as it seemed so obvious), was that at that time everyone seemed to practice techniques with two movements. Say, two punches, or a punch and a kick, whatever their favored combination was.

So I started practicing three movements in my techniques. And more. NO one I came up against was doing that. They would practice how to counter, or block someone throwing a right punch, then a straight kick at them and they were prepared, but if you continued on, ready to alter as need be, it left them confused because they expected a two combination technique, then they were going to attack again. It confused many of my opponents who weren't ready for that.

When someone did happen to pull that typically in merely throwing a lot of stuff ast me, out of frustration many times, I was prepared because I practed that myself. Understand, there is a difference between practicing a technique, a combination, and throwing them in the moment. A big difference. You do have to think fast, incredibly fast in the moment, but practicing it outside of that moment over months or years, gives you a toolset others do not typically have.

That, is emblematic of the Russians over others. I also started playing chess when I was in grade school. There were a lot of similarities between martial arts and chess. Or espionage, international politics (or international politics for that matter) and chess.

And so, something came to me about this as a way to explain that difference between Russian culture and say that of Great Britain, or America.

Consider the case with who have mostly bee Chess champions over the past decades.

FIDE world champions (1993–2006)
Anatoly Karpov 1993–1999 Russia
Alexander Khalifman 1999–2000 Russia
Viswanathan Anand 2000–2002 India
Ruslan Ponomariov 2002–2004 Ukraine
Rustam Kasimdzhanov 2004–2005 Uzbekistan
Veselin Topalov 2005–2006 Bulgaria
Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Bulgaria, all once part of the Soviet Union.
My point is as I said, don't think Russians are stupid. I could go on. 100 years ago Britain learned espionage from the Russians and then the Soviets. We learned from the Brits.

America has gotten fat and lazy, in certain areas.

Back in the 1980s for instance, military might and new advances in electronics meant we didn't need as many good intelligence people. Or so we mistakenly believed. Much to the horror of our intelligence community who clearly knew better. Not just to retain their jobs, but out of reality, sanity and...intelligence. In ever sense of the word.

What's cheapest we asked? And some managers in intelligence who mistakenly believed and agreed with civilian leadership in Congress. We had gotten perhaps a somewhat inflated ego. We believed that satellites and computers would, could, replace real people on the ground in foreign counties. We didn't need foreign nationals to help us spy. That was so stupid, that now it almost hurts in just thinking about it.

All too often we have exchanged intelligence for profit or "saving" money in the short term, over how much we ended up losing in the long term, later, and in reality. How much money, and lives we could have saved over decades if we only had not thought to save a few dollars during one or two presidential terms. In this case it was Ronald Reagan who damaged America, and in so many ways, both externally and within.

As the current Pres. Trump, as ignorant as he is in so very many areas, he has no clue how he is internally damaging America from his international actions. Many of which may not play out completely until long after he is gone from office.

Now with Mr. Trump, in his fear of office because of his lack of ability to manage well, with his lips so far up Putin's backside he's not acting properly in relation to the Russian leader. An, if not illegal, then illiberal leader, a criminal much like Trump, and a con man. Though a far better con "artist" than Trump could ever be.

Putin relies on our good intentions and nature. Not unlike Hitler with Chamberlain.

So finally this past week we have acted, mostly because we have to with long standing agreements with other countries who are our friends. Not that Trump is treating our friends like friends, but as a bully in so many ways. And too often an ignorant bully, as so many are. Putin too is a bully, but a wise one nonetheless, in part because he is Russian but in larger part because he is KGB trained.

And he has the backing of both Russian and other oligarchs, and the Russian Mafia contingent. Criminals working with the State and the State as criminals, working with professional criminals. But it is difficult too tell in this case, who are the true professionals.

Perhaps, as they have so long been tied together, it is both. Similar in a much less organic and professional level to the American political Republican party and corporations. America is a far less pungent example of the workings together of criminal organizations and State, or church and State as in Russia and as we're seeing today in Putin's moves. As some have said, Putin looks for an unlocked door in Eurasia and just walks in when he can. Therefore, we need to be vigilant, aware and know where the doors are "unlocked" and be sure to secure them, and our futures.

We need to help to guide Russia in the right ways to be able eventually tu join the world in positive advancements and a free and open world citizenry. Elections as he has been manipulating to date, are not allowing for free and open elections and therefore for free and open citizens. It's a miserable travesty of government and governing citizens, as well as aggressions against other countries.

This isn't mere diatribe against Putin, or Trump for that matter, though both have some bad things about them, and both need to go, ASAP. However, for something substantive on Putin....

The Great Soviet broke in 1989. Later Yeltsin passed power to Putin, partially in order to protect Yeltsin and family for his criminal activities. Putin appears now to be in that same position of being unable to leave power until there is someone to protect him, as he protected Yeltsin. But in Putin taking over, the effort to reconstitute the Soviet Union under a new banner, began.

As US Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI, Chairman, Homeland Security Committee) said the day I wrote this blog, if instead it had been Boris Nemtsov (assassinated as so many Putin opponents have been in 2015, and I'd suggest, indirectly by Putin) taking over rather than Putin, we may have had a Russia who was much more interested in taking the time and effort to join the world in a more open and welcomed situation.

Boris was as Wikipedia put it, "a Russian physicist and liberal politician. Nemtsov was one of the most important figures in the introduction of capitalism into the Russian post-Soviet economy." Russian state news Pravda (which rather sadly translates as "Truth") claimed anything but what the reality appears to be about Nemtsov in report after slanderous report.

Russia has destabilizing Europe as they can only do, because they are good at it and because they're options are limited. They are gaining power in ways that shouldn't be allowed. As with the Nord Stream pipeline Germany has been trying to promote which would give Russia even more geopolitical power especially in the Balkan States.

Long term we need better relationships with Russia. But we have to take a hard line as Putin respects power and Trump has been weak. Very, very weak on Putin. NATO countries need to step up and pay their fair share to protect themselves and stop Putin's soft aggressions that seem to be working so very well so far for him.

So we we may have stopped being lazy now, but we're still fat. When you've been fat and lazy for a while, it takes a long time to get back in shape. And Mr. Trump acts like he has an inordinately excessive amount of adipose tissues in his gray matter.

This is going to be hard, and it's going to take a while. We can't do it with Trump. Where he's strong he's most likely not being smart and vice versa. Or he wouldn't have so many bankruptcies and so many wouldn't hate him so much, fand or good reason, and for so long. He can be treacherous. But let's not forget, not as treacherous as Putin.

What am I saying? Only what I've been saying for decades now.

Don't play patty cakes with Putin. Act professionally. Be smart, be very smart. Play to win. Leave America on top at the end, as a world leader. With the world looking up to us as how to act, and how to be a leader. We need to be not just a leader of the "free" world, but the world at large.

But I don't see that starting to happen any time soon.

As a brief aside... it's probably useless putting up #VPOTUS hashtag here, in mentioning Donald Trump's chosen VP in Mike Pence, as too many wacko Christian types see a Biblical second coming as ultimately necessary which is simply and solely working against our government and our nation.Yet, it is relevant and we need also to be aware of that path we need not to tread upon. Not in America. Not in a free country. Not in a democracy and one that is adamantly not a theocracy.

We need to be smart, to act with our eyes wide open. In the most enlightened ways possible.

And treat Russia with respect, and a full understanding of who they are, and who they can be. Who we can end up being, if we don't respond to them properly, and direct them in the best ways possible.

If it wasn't for Britain so long ago having learned about the Russians in their long dealings with them over hundreds of years. If they hadn't taught us, been patient with us in our initial disbeliefs of what and who the Russian culture (Soviets back then, even scarier), we'd still be lost in our dealings with them. And yet we seem to be lately anyway? Fat and lazy? Or just stupid for profit and believing Putin's promise and promises? Like Chamberlain baring his throat for Hitler?

And yet, we still seem to play games with Russia, when they most assuredly are not simply playing game, with us.